Principal Architect - Remote

Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting‑edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care's most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives.

Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Optum is seeking a visionary Digital AI architect for our Contract Center Transformation. The successful candidate will play a critical role in transforming our voice and digital experiences to conversational experiences, through multiple engagement channels (including web, app, chat, voice, and search), with a particular emphasis on transforming how consumers engage in the US health care system. In this role you will help make United Health Group's consumer‑obsessed digital vision come to life by using AI to deliver our next generation Conversational Experiences.

Define and lead the strategic vision, architecture, and implementation of AI contact solutions across our consumer‑facing digital experiences. Partner closely with business and product teams to identify and prioritize strategic opportunities for leveraging AI within web, mobile, chat messaging, voice messaging, and search channels. Oversee the development of scalable, secure, and innovative AI solutions designed to enhance consumer engagement and deliver personalized, intuitive self‑service experiences that transform our current digital experiences into conversational experiences.

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.

• Own digital chat/messaging architecture on Amazon Connect across web and mobile experiences, with support for asynchronous customer conversations and modern digital channels as required by the business
• Design and implement chat contact flows that deliver consistent, brand‑aligned customer experiences: intent capture, authentication/verification, routing, queue handling, and bot‑to‑agent handoff
• Build chatbot‑assisted digital experiences in Amazon Connect chat flows, including intent/slot design, fulfillment, and robust fallback/escalation patterns
• Implement rich digital interactions to reduce friction, enable self‑service, improve resolution, and increase containment in chat
• Enable an effective human agent chat experience: configure and optimize agent workflows in agent workspace/CCP, and integrate customer context (CRM/cases/knowledge) to reduce handling time and improve resolution quality
• Define integration patterns between Amazon Connect and enterprise platforms (CRM, identity, customer profile/data services)
• Establish observability and conversation analytics for chat: logging/tracing, dashboards, transcript access, and improvement loops using conversational analytics (chat sentiment, categorization, summaries/search)
• Lead security, privacy, and compliance‑by‑design for digital channels (PII handling, encryption, access controls, retention/redaction policies where applicable)
• Act as a senior individual contributor leader: drive design reviews, publish reference patterns/standards, mentor engineers, and influence stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and Contact Center Operations
• Assess new AWS Connect capabilities and lead internal collaboration to determine technical and business value

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering (or equivalent practical experience)
• 5+ years of experience in solution architecture and/or software engineering for digital customer experience, messaging, chat, or contact‑center platforms
• 3+ years hands‑on experience implementing Amazon Connect digital/chat solutions in production (chat flows, routing, agent workflows), or equivalent CCaaS experience plus demonstrable Amazon Connect depth
• 3+ years of experience building or integrating customer chat…